Browsing by Author "Zheng, Hongliang"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Apoptotic variants as predictors of risk of oropharyngeal cancer recurrence after definitive radiotherapy.
    (Int J Cancer, 2015-11-15) Zhang, Fenghua; Sturgis, Erich M; Sun, Yan; Zhang, Yang; Wei, Qingyi; Zhang, Caiyun; Zheng, Hongliang; Li, Guojun
    Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the promoter region of FAS and FASLG may alter their transcriptional activity. Thus, we determined the associations between four FAS and FASLG promoter variants (FAS1377G>A, rs2234767; 670A>G, rs1800682; FASLG844T>C, rs763110 and 124A>G, rs5030772) and the risk of recurrence of squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (SCCOP). We evaluated the associations between FAS and FASLG genetic variants and the risk of recurrence in a cohort of 1,008 patients. The log-rank test and multivariate Cox models were used to evaluate the associations. Compared with patients with common homozygous genotypes of FAS670 and FASLG844 polymorphisms, patients with variant genotypes had lower disease-free survival rates (log-rank p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively) and an approximately threefold higher risk of SCCOP recurrence (HR, 3.2;95% CI, 2.2-4.6; and HR, 3.1; 95% CI, 2.2-4.4, respectively) after multivariate adjustment. Furthermore, among patients with HPV16-positive tumors, those with variant genotypes of these two polymorphisms had lower disease-free survival rates (log-rank, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively) and a higher recurrence risk than did patients with common homozygous genotypes (HR, 12.9; 95% CI, 3.8-43.6; and HR, 8.1; 95% CI, 3.6-18.6, respectively), whereas no significant associations were found for FAS1377 and FASLG124 polymorphisms. Our findings suggest that FAS670 and FASLG844 polymorphisms modulate the risk of recurrence of SCCOP, particularly in patients with HPV16-positive tumors. Larger studies are needed to validate these results.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Pre-miRNA variants as predictors of clinical outcome in patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the nonoropharynx.
    (Oncotarget, 2016-05) Wang, Chengyuan; Sturgis, Erich M; Chen, Xingming; Zheng, Hongliang; Wei, Qingyi; Li, Guojun
    Functional polymorphisms of miRNAs may affect the function and target expression of miRNAs, which can, in turn, affect the biological activity, etiology, and prognosis of cancer. We hypothesized that four common polymorphisms in pre-miRNAs (hsa-mir-146a rs2910164 G > C, hsa-mir-196a2 rs11614913 C > T, hsa-mir-149 rs2292832 G > T, and hsa-mir-499 rs3746444 A > G) are associated with survival in SCCNOP. We used univariate and multivariable Cox models to evaluate the associations between the four polymorphisms and survival. We found that hsa-mir-149 rs2292832 and hsa-mir-499 rs3746444 had statistically significant associations with survival, but hsa-mir-146a rs2910164 and hsa-mir-196a2 rs11614913 did not. Patients having the hsa-mir-149 CC and hsa-mir-499 TT wild-type genotypes had significantly better overall, disease-specific, and disease-free survival compared with those who had the corresponding variant CT/TT and CT/CC genotypes, respectively. Furthermore, these genotypes were significantly associated with reduced risk of overall death, death owing to disease, and recurrence after adjustment for important prognostic confounders, indicating that these pre-miRNA polymorphisms may be prognostic biomarkers for SCCNOP. Moreover, the stratified analyses based on smoking status and treatment indicated that the effects of hsa-mir-149 and hsa-mir-499 polymorphisms on survival were more pronounced in ever smokers and patients treated with chemoradiation. Our findings support that the hsa-mir-149 rs2292832 and hsa-mir-499 rs3746444 polymorphisms play a significant role in the prognosis of SCCNOP, especially in smokers and patients treated with chemoradiation. Prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings.